a mere series of local annoyances, was at | but it could now scarcely be called danlength about to rest from its labours, and gerous; for, from the enemy in the open to take much needed shelter from the sun and the rains; while the veterans in its ranks might recruit their strength, and the young among them learn discipline in the season of forced repose that awaited them. There was, however, no respite for the commander-in-chief or for his staff, whose watchful care was required in every direction, in organising arrangements for the distribution and accommodation of the troops, as well as in precautionary measures for the repression of any attempts that the enemy might be induced to make against the various outlying stations and lines of communication during the rains, to say nothing of the labour necessarily devoted to the arrangement of plans for an ensuing campaign, should circumstances render it inevitable. We have already shown that much had been accomplished; still, much remained to be done before the sword could be sheathed. The state of Oude was still not satisfactory; its chiefs and population were yet hostile, and had rejected the offers of reconciliation and forgiveness. They had refused to accept either the terms offered by the governor-general in his original proclamation,* or the more liberal conditions the commissioner had been empowered to grant them; and were resolved to risk the chances of a guerilla war, and to try the effect of an armed opposition to the introduction of civil power into their territories; and the gage being thus thrown down, no course was left to the British government but to crush and politically exterminate those who had defied its power and scorned its mercy. Oude had not only now to be conquered, but to be occupied militarily-its forts to be laid in ruins-its chiefs brought to utter and acknowledged subjection-its population disarmed, and its social state entirely reconstituted. The task yet reserved for the army might be arduous and tedious; See ante, p. 276.

field, there was no longer anything to dread; but in the multifarious operations in which the troops, split into numerous small columns, were likely to be engagedeach depending for success upon the judg ment of its individual leader-there were certainly grounds for apprehension. There was not, at this time, in Central India, in the North-West Provinces, or in Bengal, any assemblage of the enemy which had the slightest pretension to be called an army. In one short campaign, Sir Colin Campbell had tranquillised the Doab, crushed the Gwalior contingent, taken Lucknow, overrun Oude for a time with movable columns, wrested Rohilcund from the rebels, and re-established the civil rule of the Company in many of its old sites of power; while his lieutenants had restored the prestige of the British name in Central India, had pacified large provinces, laid waste the strongholds and haunts of numerous hostile chieftains, and had broken up every band which met them in armsseizing their guns, and dispersing them in helpless flight. Between the beginning of the mutiny in May, 1857, and the close of June, 1858, not less than 30,000 of the rebellious soldiers of the native army had been slain in the field, had died of their wounds, or had perished of diseases incident to the war. From 8,000 to 10,000 armed men, and refractory inhabitants of the towns and villages, had also perished in encounters with the troops; and of those shot, blown away from guns, or hanged, pursuant to the sentences of civil or military courts, the number had been frightfully great. The result of this wholesale weeding-out had, however, established the fact, that the sepoy rebels had disappeared as organised bodies; and the principal enemies which our troops had thenceforth to contend with, were simply matchlockmen and irregular horse, without a single leader of note to command them.

CHAPTER XIII.

COMMENCEMENT OF THE RAINY SEASON; TEMPER OF THE PEOPLE; COMPARATIVE QUIET OF THE COUNTRY; MILITARY OPERATIONS; ATTACK ON KIRWEE; ATTEMPTED OUTBREAK AT ALLYGURH; STATE OF OUDE; LUCKNOW AND ITS VICINITY; THE OUDE PRINCES AND JUNG BAHADOOR OF NEPAUL; SIR HOPE GRANT AT FYZABAD; THE PUNJAB; PROJECTED REVOLT AT DERA ISMAEL KHAN AND MOOLTAN; AFFAIR AT DEHREE; THE DOAB AND ROHILCUND; DELHI; VISIT TO THE PALACE; THE DEWAN KHASS; THE EXKING; THE PRINCE JUMMA BUKHT; PAST POLICY OF THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT; THE CITY AND ITS PROBABLE FUTURE; THE LUCKNOW VICTIMS; MAUN SING; HIS CHIVALROUS CONDUCT; HIS SERVICES AND TREATMENT; DOUBTFUL MOVEMENTS EXPLAINED; STRENGTH OF THE REBELS IN OUDE; CONFIDENCE IN THE FUTURE POLICY OF GOVERNMENT.

camp, and fled without halting to Buneta, whither they were followed by the British troops; but the chase was fruitless, as the latter could never get within sight even of the active enemy; and the troops found, to their chagrin, that their harassing march across the country had in reality led to no useful result.

In Rohilcund, it was apparent that, although the country was slowly returning to a dogged obedience, the feeling of the people was as hostile as ever. The Hindoos hated their Christian rulers, who had treated them with comparative kindness, even more than they did the Mussulmans— tyrants who, during their brief reign, had plundered and insulted them in every possible way. Upon the resumption of British authority, martial law had been removed from the province, and the Company's regu

change was not congenial to the habits or wishes of the people. They preferred to live under the military law of their native chiefs; and when Khan Bahadoor Khan, and his allies, held Rohilcund, the populace showed their partiality for native customs, by witnessing the abolition of the civil courts with the utmost indifference. They were a simple people, and preferred to be ruled by the direct blow of the sword, rather than by the tortuous subtlety of the pen, and the sophistries of a code of laws to which their fathers were strangers. Perhaps they were right in their predilection for the more summary, if not the best, system of government.

who, after a sharp skirmish with a police force under Lieutenant Graham and Mr. Machonochie, were driven into the ravines with some loss. Among the bodies left on the ground was one which, from the bottles and packets of medicine found upon it, was evidently a native doctor. From Gwalior, a letter of the 17th of July says "The troops are getting under cover as quickly as possible, the maharajah rendering every assistance; and there is no time to be lost, as the monsoon commenced on the 12th. The 95th have been ordered to Sepree, in consequence of disturbances expected thereabouts, and were to have marched this morning, but did not. Our general is very careful of the health of the troops, and won't have them exposed if he can help it; and in this all agree with him. Sir Robert Hamilton is still here arranging treaties. Scindia is in high spirits at having relations restored in full force. But the covered his throne, and wanted to evince his gratitude to the troops by giving them six months' batta; but he was advised to give a star. We all wish his advisers had been in a region where there are no stars at all. We expect to return to Bombay immediately after the rains." In Rajpootana, the movements of the troops about this time are described in the following telegram:-"Allahabad, 9th July.-General Roberts was at Sangheer, south of Jeypore, on the 5th. The rebels, who left Lalsoont for Tongha on the 3rd, suddenly returned to the former place, and are now said to have moved for Dholepore. The Kotah rebels, who went to Gwalior, have come back, reduced in number, and in much disorder, and are now at Karier, near Madhopore, in the Jeypore territory. The rebel rajah of Shahagunge has given himself up to Mr. Thornton at Moororra. The rebels had moved south before General Roberts' force, and the latter was about to send detachments in pursuit ahead of his main force." Again, on the 12th of July, a telegram from Agra announced that, on the 9th, a body of rebels had taken possession of Tonk (a town about forty-eight miles south of Jeypore), and surrounded the Bhoomghur, in which the nawab resided. They had plundered the town, and obtained three brass guns, with which they assailed the Bhoomghur; but the nawab and his people remained faithful, and held out; and the following day, on hearing of the approach of Captain Holmes with a force for the relief of the nawab, they suddenly broke up their

The following communication from Central India, furnishes some details of an expedition, in which a force, under General Whitlock, was successful in an attack upon a fortified town belonging to Narrayun Rao, of the family of the Peishwa. According to the writer (an officer of the force engaged), this affair was productive of important results, as no less than forty-one guns, 150 rounds of powder, 1,500 stand of arms, and two crores of rupees and jewels, fell into the hands of the victors. The letter, under date of July 17th, says "The force marched from Banda, for Kirwee, in two brigades, one following the other; and the rabble army of Narrayun Rao made preparations to obstruct our approach, by placing strong outposts on the different roads leading to Kirwee; but, as our imposing force gradually neared them, their courage rapidly oozed away. Various messengers met us

next day, the general, with a detachment of horse artillery, cavalry, and infantry, entered Kirwee, and the magistrate took possession of the town and palace, the main portion of the force encamping on the left bank of the river Pynsunee, opposite to the town of Kirwee.

"These gentlemen evidently did not expect a force to march to Kirwee in the hot winds of Bundelcund, and have, without a doubt, been taken by surprise; for we found their gun-foundries and powder manufactories in full swing. They were casting guns and preparing ammunition up to within two days of our entering Kirwee, and the enlistment of men was still going on.

on the road, intimating that the heirs of the great Peishwa were coming to surrender; and daily were we expecting to see them; but, as day after day passed, and no one made his appearance, we began to think that the craftiness of the Mahratta was at work, and that their intimations of surrender were made merely with the hope of delaying our advance; and the hopes of many rose high, that we should yet have to fight our way into Kirwee. They were, however, doomed to disappointment; for no sooner had we arrived within two marches of Kirwee, than the rabble army began to disperse; and Radha Govind, the head man of Narrayun Rao, the scoundrel who had worked all the mischief, thinking dis- "We found in the palace upwards of cretion the better part of valour, with all forty pieces of cannon, 18, 12, 9, 6, and his satellites, and the greater part of the 3-pounders; an immense quantity of shot rabble army, taking a large quantity of cash and powder, 2,000 stand of arms, complete, and jewels, bolted to a hill fort near Menik- with their accoutrements and ball cartridge, poor, some twenty miles south of Kirwee. besides no end of matchlocks and swords; Fortunately, they were able to take no and what is more fatal than anything to guns with them; and Narrayun Rao and the Raos, we found in the palace a heap Madho Rao, withdrawing the guns into of sepoys' kits containing accoutrements of the courtyard of their palace, prepared mutineers of several of our worst regiments, to surrender themselves to the British gov- thereby clearly proving that these men had ernment, and to answer for their misdeeds been entertained at Kirwee. Narrayun of the past twelve months. On our reach- Rao and Madho Rao are confined in a ing our encamping-ground the next morn-room inside the palace, and guards have ing, within eight miles of Kirwee, a small been placed over their immense wealth, band of horsemen appeared in the distance, valued at upwards of a crore of rupees. escorting three palanquins. The troops We also found here two guns with bullocks were halted, and the cavalry skirmished to complete, six elephants and sixty-four horses the front, and we awaited the approach belonging to Nawab Ally Bahadar, which of the enemy. Presently one man of the had been brought here after the fight at party preceded his companions, and, in a Banda, on the 19th of April. The Raos state of the greatest alarm, rushed up to the will be tried in a few days, and if convicted, general, exclaiming in English, Sir, I am their property should be presented to the a faithful servant of the British government; troops as prize-money, as although there Narrayun Rao and Madho Rao beg permis- has been no fight, still, the submission sion to throw themselves at your feet. This caused by the approach of the force is of turned out to be the agent of the British incalculable importance and gain to us, and government; who, for some time past, with the troops have had a most harassing march infinite peril to himself, had been residing in the height of the hot winds of Bundelcund, at Kirwee, trying to persuade the Raos and have lost as many men from sun-stroke to surrender. His efforts, backed by the as they would probably have lost in open approach of the force, had now met with fight. success. Permission was given to the penitent rebel chiefs to approach; and the general and the magistrate went to the front to meet them. Leaving their escort Some distance off, Narrayun Rao and Madho Rao then approached on foot; and giving up their swords to the general, in token of submission, were immediately placed under a European guard of the 3rd Madras regiment, and escorted into camp. The

Yesterday, the main body of the force, including both brigades, moved over to the Kirwee side of the river, and are halted till further orders. Fortunately, but with some difficulty, cover has been found for all the sick, of whom we have a large proportion.

"Radha Govind, the scoundrel who bolted to the hills, has been marked down, and, I trust, in a day or two, we shall beat up his quarters. Our bloodless victory at Kirwee